West African Vegetation Zones

Evidence From Book

The rain forests covering the southern part of West Africa have dense vegetation and receive heavy rainfall.

Desert

i.e.

World History: Medieval

and Early Modern Times,

Chapter 5, Lesson 2, Trade

Across the Sahara, and

page 158.

People in the savannah and forests of West Africa had gold but very little salt. People in North Africa had salt, but they wanted gold.

Forest

Supporting Detail

Sand sheets and dunes cover approximately 25 percent of the Sahara’s surface. The principal types of dunes include tied dunes, which form in the lee of hills or other obstacles

The Sahara is a west African Desert

The are The Guinean Forests of West Africa

Citation: https://www.britannica.com/place/Sahara-desert-Africa

Supporting Detail

The Guinean Forests of West Africa hotspot encompasses all of the lowland forests of political West Africa, stretching from Guinea and Sierra Leone eastward to the Sanaga River in Cameroon

Sand Dunes in the Sahara Dessert

Sand dunes commonly associated with deserts.

Citation: https://www.microsfere.org/en/ghana/guinean-forests-of-west-africa-biodiversity-hotspot.html

Supporting Detail

Hot and Dry Deserts vegetation is very rare. Plants are almost all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. All of the leaves are replete

(packed with nutrients).

Supporting Detail

Drawing of Sahara Dessert

The Guinean forests consist of a range of distinct vegetation zones varying from moist forests along the coast, freshwater swamp forests, semi-deciduous forests inland with prolonged dry seasons.

Citation: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert.htm

Evidence From Book

A vegetation zone is a region that has certain types of plants. Soil and climate determine what plants grow in a vegetation zone. For example, a desert has a dry climate. Only plants that need little water grow there.

The Sahara Desert is the largest in the world!!

i.e.

World History: Medieval

and Early Modern Times,

Chapter 5, Lesson 2, Trade

Across the Sahara, and

page 157.

The Sahara desert is almost as large as The United States of America!!!

West

African Vegetation

Zones

Africa is the world's hottest continent with deserts and dry lands covering 60% of land surface area.

Africa is the world’s second driest continent (after Australia).

West Africa

Evidence From Book

Supporting Detail

7.4.1 California Standard:

Study the Niger River and the relationship of vegetation zones of forest, savannah, and desert to

trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; and the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires.

Timbuktu was on the Niger River where the desert and savannah vegetation zones met.

Some 60% of the tropical forests in the Congo Basin are considered commercially exploitable!!

i.e.

World History: Medieval

and Early Modern Times,

Chapter 5, Lesson 3, The Empire of Mali , and

page 165.

The Sahara, or Saharan Region, stretches across the whole northern extent of West Africa, formed by the Sahara Desert. It consists of a variety of arid landscapes varying from sandy sheets and dune fields to gravel plains, low plateaus, and rugged mountains. Vegetation cover is sparse to absent, except in depressions, wadis, and oases, where water is present at or just below the surface.

Vegetation under the uniformly high temperatures in the tropics is determined to a large extent by rainfall. Consequently, vegetation zones run parallel to each other from north to south and are related to rainfall quantity.

Painting of African Grassland

Citation: https://eros.usgs.gov/westafrica/node/147

Grasslands

The Savanna is a Grassland

Supporting Detail

Grasslands are characterized as lands dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees.

Savanna is grassland with scattered individual trees. Savannas of one sort or another cover almost half the surface of Africa (about five million square miles, generally central Africa)

Citation: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/grassland.html

Grasslands in West Africa

The Savanna